for those nearing retirement age

Guest717236 · Aug 18, 2011

For any nurses nearing retirement age, are you planning on drawing SS early at age 62, or waiting until the full retirement age (66,67)?

I am not planning too far ahead, it depends upon if SS is still there. :idea:

EmergencyNrse · Aug 18, 2011

I'm never going to retire.

I'm going to continue to work as long as life is in my body just to eat young newbie-nurses for breakfast, lunch and dinner. (You night-shift people are safe).

tyvin, BSN, RN · Aug 18, 2011

My closest friend is 74 and still working. I plan to do the same. There's nothing physically wrong with me and I feel great. The thing is there isn't going to be any retirement with the way things are going. Hey; if they can stay in congress into their late 90's then I will too. Well maybe not that late ... I'm looking at 76. They're trying to hike up the retirement age again to 72 anyway so I figure I'll just beat them and work anyway.

Mark my words, the retirement age will soon be 76.

OCNRN63, RN · Aug 18, 2011

I wouldn't be able to afford drawing SS early; you lose too much. I'll probably be in it until I'm 67y. Even with saving for retirement, it just won't be enough to survive.

CrunchRN, ADN, RN · Aug 18, 2011

I'm never going to retire.
I'm going to continue to work as long as life is in my body just to eat young newbie-nurses for breakfast, lunch and dinner. (You night-shift people are safe).

:lol2: :lol2: :lol2: :lol2: :lol2: :lol2: :lol2: :lol2: :lol2:

I wanna work with you - love a good sense of humor!

llg, PhD, RN · Aug 18, 2011

I'm not sure. I am 56 now, so, I still have a little time to decide. I'll have to monitor the situation and make my decision in a few years.

My hope is to delay taking it until at least age 66 and 2 months -- and that is my current plan. I hope to switch to part time employment sometime in my early 60's when my house is paid off, earning enough to pay the bills and qualifying for group health insurance through that part time employment. Then when I hit 65 and qualify for medicare, I hope to completely retire -- but have enough saved up to not need SS for another year, when I will hit full retirement age.

itsmejuli · Aug 18, 2011

One cannot rely solely on Medicare and social security in retirement. Medicare premiums continue to rise and the cost of Medicare supplementary plans or Medicare out of pocket expenses is ridiculous. What cuts the US gov plans to make to Medicare and SS is still unknown.

I'm glad I have a choice in which country to work and retire. I returned to Canada after considerable deliberation on my retirement future.

If I'd stayed in the US I doubt that I'd ever be able to work less than full-time after age 65.

classicdame, MSN, EdD · Aug 18, 2011

I plan to retire at 67 and not take SS till then because I do not want to pay taxes on that money. There is a calculator online to help you decide. I do not need the money now and prefer to get the full amount later. Just a few more years!!! (assuming it is still viable then).

I am lucky in that my hospital has helped me with my 401k plan and I do not need to rely on just SS payments.

Isabelle49 · Aug 18, 2011

Am going to retire at 62 in less than a month. I will work prn and earn up to the max. allowed. In doing so, I will make more than I do now.

mee9mee9 · Aug 18, 2011

i thought retirement money and ss checks were totally different. if u put money in a retirement 401 k you get paid the 401 k and the ss check?

Jules A, MSN · Aug 19, 2011

i'm not a financial planner of course but i do believe that although the amount of money is larger if you wait the chances of people actually living that much longer and being able to enjoy their retirement at that older age considerably decreases for the general population which is why it makes sense for many to grab the cash as soon as it is available. i'm not banking on living into my 80s or caring how much income i have at that point. check this out from http://www.schwab.com/public/schwab/research_strategies/market_insight/retirement_strategies/planning/when_should_you_take_social_security.html:

2. your life expectancy and break-even age. taking social security early reduces your benefits, but it also means you'll receive monthly checks for a longer time. taking social security later results in fewer checks during your lifetime, but the credit for waiting means each check will be larger.

at what age will you break even and begin to come out ahead if you delay social security? the break-even age depends on the amount of your benefits and the assumptions you use to account for taxes and the opportunity cost of waiting (investment return you could have made, inflation, etc.).

the ssa has several handy calculators you can use to estimate your own benefits. for example, if you're a top wage earner turning 62 this year and your monthly benefits (in today's dollars) at ages 62 and one month, 66 and 70 are $1,803, $2,442 and $3,256, respectively, then your break-even ages are as follows:

62 (early) vs. 66 (nra): break-even age is between 76 and 77.
62 (early) vs. 70 (late): break-even age is between 78 and 79.
66 (nra) vs. 70 (late): break-even age is approximately age 81.

in this example, if you wait until age 66 versus 62 to take social security, you'll come out ahead as long as you live to at least age 77. the break-even age goes up, of course, the longer you wait. see the graph below for an illustration of sample break-even points.